Translation
In desiring to inhale, one must first open up.
In desiring weakness, one must first strive.
In desiring to let go, one must first begin.
In desiring to get, one must first give.
This saying is little understood.
Weakness is superior to strength.
Fish can’t escape from the deep,
A country’s good tools can’t instruct the people.
1) support (bring; handle, will> lead, command) desire (longing; wish; want; about to) inhale through the nose of certainly (must) solid (firm <frml> in the first place) open (spread; stretch) of.[1]将欲歙之，必固张之。(jiāng yù shè zhī, bì gù zhāng zhī.)
2) support (bring; handle, will> lead, command) desire (longing; wish; want; about to) weak (inferior <frml> a little less) of certainly (must) solid (firm <frml> in the first place) strive (make an effort; powerful) of. 将欲弱之，必固强之。(jiāng yù ruò zhī, bì gù jiàng zhī.)
3) support (bring; handle, will> lead, command) desire (longing; wish; want; about to) give up (abandon; waste) of, certainly (must) solid (firm <frml> in the first place) prosper (begin; encourage > get up) of. 将欲废之，必固兴之。(jiāng yù fèi zhī, bì gù xīng zhī.)
4) support (bring; handle, will> lead, command) desire (longing; wish; want; about to) take (get; seek) of, certainly (must) solid (firm <frml> in the first place) give (participate in) of . 将欲取之，必固与之。(jiāng yù qŭ zhī, bì gù yú zhī.)
5) <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) say (call; name; meaning; sense) minute (tiny) bright (clear; honest; know). 是谓微明。(shì wèi wēi míng.)
6) weak (delicate) victory (success; surpass; be superior to) firm (staunch; unyielding). 柔弱胜刚强。(róu ruò shèng gāng qiáng)
7) fish no (not) can take off (cast off; escape from > neglect> if) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) deep pool (deep), 鱼不可脱于渊，(yú bù kĕ tuō yú yuān,)
8) country (state; of our country) of sharp weapon (good tool) no (not) can show (notify; instruct) human (man; people). 国之利器不可以示人。(guó zhī lì qì bù kĕ yĭ shì rén.)
[1] of [之] connects modifier and word modified.
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
You bet! I’m rethinking the last line, A country’s weapons can’t instruct the people. I need to replace weapons for the more fundamental connotation. I’ll explain more at the end.
YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/0U8qmTf0Img is the link to the complete video recording of our monthly Sunday meeting. For the nicely edited version, go to Kirk Garber’s YouTube channel. The edited version comes in two parts: The first and shorter Commentary part begins with a chapter reading followed by attendees’ commentary, if any. The second and longer Open Discussion part offers attendees’ observations on how the chapter relates to their personal experience.
Reflections:
In desiring to inhale, one must first open up.
In desiring weakness, one must first strive.
In desiring to let go, one must first begin.
In desiring to get, one must first give.
This chapter was one of the first that truly resonated with me early on. At the time, I had the ideal that selflessness was a virtue. This chapter helped me realize that, to paraphrase, In desiring to be selfless, one must first be selfish.
We easily find ourselves in various states of imbalance thanks to the tradeoff humanity ‘chose’ to make to maximize comfort and security. I say ‘chose’ in an evolutionary sense of the word, similar to how redwood trees ‘chose’ to reach to the sky, or the whale’s ancestors ‘chose’ to leave land for the sea. (See The Tradeoff )
Civilization requires a hierarchical social structure that leaves all of us more action oriented than our ancestors were. While our hunter-gatherer ancestors struggled to survive, their circumstances didn’t push for progress… starting with ideals to be more than you naturally are. Natural balance was the status quo. Such natural balance status quo is difficult to maintain in the face of the drive to ‘get ahead’, to climb the ladder to success… all essentially with the objective to be a bona fide somebody!
Entangled in our push for control, progress and power, our innate organic animal nature yearns to let go, inhale, relax, and feel content. In a word, find peace. These four lines bluntly remind us that there is a prerequisite. Through striving, you reach weakness; through beginning, you let go; through giving you get… and through selfish you reach selfless. And finally, through life you reach death.
This saying is little understood.
Naturally, this process is little understood. Civilization’s prime directive is the push for progress, achievement, power, control. We are reared from infancy, exposed to this achievement-oriented drumbeat of civilization. The weakness yin side of life’s cycle gets little attention or consideration.
Weakness is superior to strength.
Weakness correlates to death. Death = reality. Weakness and death also correlate to silence, emptiness, stillness — eternity. (See Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations) This realm of profound sameness is invincible and impenetrable. Civilization, by and large, worships at the alter of strength and progress. Weakness is a thing to be overcome. That is civilization’s raison d’être.
Fish can’t escape from the deep.
If the whole universe was the color of blue, no one could see blue. Contrast of ‘otherness’ is necessary to identify and give a name to (label) something… anything. The human mind, especially since the end of the hunter-gatherer existence has been preoccupied with naming experience. Indeed, if ‘it’ doesn’t have a name we don’t feel it exists, or it hardly exists at all. The naming of our experience becomes a blinder that prevents us from knowing the deep… the ‘blue’ of the universe, so to speak. Without labels, the mind must confront itself in utter honesty. There is no rationalization to hide behind.
A country’s weapons can’t instruct the people.
The actual characters translated here as weapon is worth a deeper look. The dual character 利 器 (lì qì) means sharp weapon or good tool. Most, if not all translators interpret this duo as ‘weapon’. ‘Weapon’ certainly forces an overly narrow view compared to ‘good tool’. Consider how these characters suggest a broader interpretation…
利 lì = sharp; favorable; advantage; profit; interest.
器 qì = implement; utensil; ware; organ; capacity; talent.
Thus, I favor using ‘good tool’ over ‘weapon’. ‘Good tool’ encompasses more of the various character meanings above, e.g., favorable + talent; profit + capacity; advantage + implement.
Briefly, the favoring of good tools overshadows deeper instruction. Alas, this is all part of the tradeoff humanity made long ago.
Again, civilization lies at the core of this problem. Power and achievement are overwhelmingly and intimately linked to the use of tools. Tools play a major role in our pursuit of greater security and comfort. Left far behind are instruction on the deeper qualities of life issues that everyone values, but nevertheless take a back seat to progress.
Chapter Archive https://youtu.be/4NTOl-5ULmM
This is the complete video. It begins with blowing Zen followed by the meeting
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
Nothing other than a missing period stood out today. The translations / interpretation is pretty straightforward. I shortened the formal xī (歙) inhale through the nose to simply inhale. Truth be told, there is a difference, as you will see if you ‘consciously’ inhale through the nose. Our breathing often reflects the life tensions we harbor. Relaxing enough to open up and take a full breath through the nose (not the mouth) really helps ground us during stressful circumstances. I suppose I felt inhale through the nose fails to convey this subtly well enough. That probably means I’ll change it back someday.
D.C. Lau’s last two lines don’t convey what I see the characters say. His interpretation is, The fish must not be allowed to leave the deep; The instrument of power in a state must not be revealed to anyone. I can’t help but hear undertones of free will. More importantly, the characters more literally say, Fish can’t escape from the deep. A country’s weapons can’t instruct the people.
As I see it, the idea of ‘allowing the fish to leave the deep’ is not an option. Frankly, we can only see the ‘fish’ we want to see. The ‘deep’ is more about a depth of mind of the observer, that anything ‘out there’. Depth of mind naturally sees the deeper fish, so to speak. Thus, it is not a question of “allowing” or not, but rather, about how deep ‘fish can’t escape from the deep‘. The same applies to the so called “instruments of power”. Our own fears and needs blind us to the obvious. Everything is open for view in nature; it is our blind spot that obstructs perception.
Commentary:
I’ve always liked the way D.C. Lau translated the beginning of this chapter. Maybe this is an example of when more words can actually say more, even if it isn’t exactly what the original says?
His, If you would have a thing weakened, You must first strengthen it is another way of considering entropy. It is not that entropy is a desirable goal in life. Just the opposite usually; life’s main task is resisting entropy. However, it is the cold hard reality. Coming to terms with how nature works is the only way to find contentment, and well, ‘peace on earth’. Roller coasters are a good metaphor for life. Gestation in the womb is the cog-journey to the top of the ride. Birth is the rush into life. As time goes by, the ups and downs gradually smooth out. One begins to see the ups when down, and the downs when up. It’s called perspective. Knowing the process helps cope with the ups and downs a little better, I find… as I head toward the end of my ride.
Just a few more words on the last two lines:
The Chinese says the “fish can not escape the deep”, not as Lau puts it, The fish must not be allowed to leave the deep. This is significant. The former is attempting to reveal what nature is really like. The later is attempting to tell us what we should do to ‘control’ nature. In my view, the principles (truths, axioms) the Tao Te Ching speaks about are self evident and knowable to all. The only reason we can’t see the self-evidence is that it doesn’t show us what we desire to see. That is why the sage did not use it to enlighten
the people but to hoodwink them. Not only the sage, but also biology (see How the Hoodwink Hooks).
Suggested Revision:
In desiring to inhale, one must first open up.
In desiring weakness, one must first strive.
In desiring to let go, one must first begin.
In desiring to take, one must first give.
This saying is little understood.
Weakness is superior to strength.
Fish can’t escape from the deep.
A country’s weapons can’t instruct the people.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
No matter how strong and active life is, it always ends in weakness and stillness (death). That is why we say, the submissive and weak will overcome the hard and strong. Yet, even at the everyday level, weakness is profoundly useful. It is the ‘power’ of the mysterious female. I see this linkage between ‘power’ and weakness as a co-generating principle of nature.
This co-generating principle is obvious in how before and after follow each other. Likewise, but perhaps less obvious, selfish and selfless complement each other, life and death harmonize with each other, right and wrong produce each other, and so on. We make life more difficult than need-be by favoring one side at the expense of the other. Although, this is just the way nature (instinct) intends it to be, I might add. Why? Let’s just say such hoodwinking serves interaction and evolution. Curiously, defying this instinct and doing my utmost to attain emptiness, allows the weak to get the better of the unyielding. This breaks up any ’emotional log jams’ and helps bring on a resurgence of effort to move forward.
Feeling the importance of moving forward in life is universal. We must move forward and persevere (or at least feel we are) to feel Right with life. Fundamentally, life meaning lies in movement. When we feel stuck, movement becomes impossible. The way of addressing this ‘movement issue’ is what differentiates Taoism from ‘common sense’. For example, pushing for movement can often produces its opposite – feeling even more stuck. Rather than push even harder, the Taoist way does not contend with the ’emotional log jam’, but rather becomes one with it. Curiously, this allows life’s movement to return naturally and effortlessly. In short, the easiest way to bring about the side desired is to return to the other. Put another way, we can only truly have what we let go of. (That such going against natural inclinations works so well probably accounts for the continuous state of irony I feel.)
I translate / interpret the end of this chapter quite differently than D.C. Lau. First, I reckon it is not that ‘the fish must not be allowed to leave the deep‘. Rather, fish can’t escape from the deep. The implication of the former is that we have a choice in the matter. The later offers a view of ‘that which is naturally so‘. Next, how can one reveal ‘the instruments of power’, even if one wanted too? After all, ‘my words are easy to understand...’.More realistic, if still somewhat obscure, is the idea that a state’s weapons can’t instruct the people. Although it does parallel my sense that true learning can only arise from within. True ignorance can’t be un-taught through external measures like ‘education’. Nuts, that’s not what we want to hear!